Treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer: the Chinese experience in a general teaching hospital

Abstract

Background: It has been reported that combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy prolongs locally advanced stage IIIB non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patient survival and cisplatin-based chemotherapy prolongs survival in stage IV disease. This study was aimed at investigating whether this conclusion also applies to Chinese patients.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of NSCLC patients diagnosed at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital covering a period from 1990 to 1996 to examine the effect of treatment regimen on survival.

Results: There were 3,925 cases of NSCLC diagnosed during this period. The stage at diagnosis was stage III or IV in the majority (76.6%) of cases. Surgery followed by chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy conferred a survival benefit of more than two years in stage IIIA patients. For stage IIIB patients, chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy yielded a median survival of 13 months, compared to only seven months for radiotherapy alone. For stage IV patients, cisplatin-based chemotherapy prolonged median survival for more than two months compared with palliative radiotherapy alone or supportive care only. Survival was improved in stage IV patients who received chemotherapy during 1990 to 1996 compared with those who received chemotherapy during 1985 to 1989. This improvement was most likely due to improvements in supportive care because the treatment regimen was constant during the study period.

Conclusions: Cisplatin-based chemotherapy prolonged survival of Chinese patients with metastatic NSCLC. Combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy also prolonged survival of Chinese patients with locally advanced NSCLC.